2019-05-30 - The Scottish Play

"Larry. LARRY! You have to put your collar down," a middle-aged round woman fusses with her husband towards the entrance of the theater. She's positioned in such a way that's going to force people to move around her. "Where are the tickets, Larry? Did you remember the money to grease the palms, Larry? I want to sit up front!"

Alexander is still in his ugly green sweater, rather than anything nice, but 'milling about' definitely describes his current actions well enough. He's got a playbill in one hand, and is pacing with some level of agitation through the crowd, frowning at people. The townies move out of his way, for the most part, pretending not to see him, while a lot of the tourists give him odd looks and indignant sniffs at his attire. Seeing Larry and his wife, Alexander stops. And he /sighs/. His free hand runs nervously through his hair, making it even more of a mess than usual.

There are a few murmurs as none other that Margaret Addington passes across the lobby, looking quite lovely this evening, as the usher is telling her while leading her up the stairs to her box. Her stupid brother trails along after her, nipping none-too-surreptitiously from a bottle before he slips out of sight. They don't have time to mingle with you plebs.

Well of course Chloe wasn't going to miss out on what was sure to be some kind of spectacle. So here she was, settling in a seat near the back of the theatre to watch it all go down. And, of course, gtfo if anything actually did pop off. If leaving was not an option, Chloe had an oversized purse with her that was doubling as a doctor's bag. Always good to be prepared, no? She has decided to dress up just a little- a cream colored, flowy sort of dress that falls just below her knees, a pair of matching sandals and a beaded necklace. Her hair is pulled back in a neat ponytail. She is quietly perusing the playbill as she waits for the show to start.

In the name of being a little less lame, Lilith calls Tobin last minute on her way to the park to wrangle him into some mass junk eating while the festival is set up in the park, prior to the show. She's wiping powdered sugar from a funnel cake from her little indigo dress hem while walking to get tickets with her commandeered company, murmuring, "... wear something nice, get it dirty like a fat ass. Fitting." Given the nature of people dressing up for theatre, even with her festival wandering plans pre-show, she's done that, if to sleek and simple pretty degrees, the sheath dress paired with sandal heels of red to match her lips, hair partially bound up to coil out of her face before curled tumble to fall.

Looking around, she asks Tobin, "See Byron anywhere? He was going to be late, but..."

"Oh my God, Larry, was that Margaret Addington?" Francine was practically swooning. "Stand up straight!" she swats Larry with a playbill all the way to their seats.

Raymond, just another part of the theatre-going crowd, lurks quietly rather than milling around. He's got a good vantage for people-watching, nodding to a few familiar faces as he does so and with a flicker of a smile for poor Larry.

Geoff makes his appearance with Erin, scanning the audience for their seats which just so happen to be toward the middle row. He doesn't so much slip through the crowd as cause the crowd to slip about him as he leads the Addington to her seat "This is a lot more packed then I was expecting." followed by a rather regretful and wry "I should have set my bets higher." Somehow tonight Geoff has actually managed to wear a pair of clothes that approach /nice/ a button up white collared shirt, and a pair of black jeans that actually appear new(ish)

Hannah was told to be careful of the actors about town recently so obviously she's decided to come here and take a look. She's taken some care with her outfit and hair and while she doesn't exactly stand out as a picture of elegant sophistication, neither does she look like she just rolled out of her hacker cave. Glancing down at her ticket, she slips through the gathering crowd to find a seat.

"Not yet," Tobin says. "He'll be here, and he'll find us when he does," he reassures Lilith as they make their way into the theatre, pick up their tickets, and begin to head toward their seats. He chuckles and looks her over, "I think you got it all." He's dressed for the theatre, since he rarely has an occasion to dress up, neatly pressed -- white shirt, pale grey suit, neatly shaven. He cleans up alright for a boat tour guide.

Standing in the shadows of the back of the venue, Nicholas stands with his hands just inside the front jeans pockets, leaning against a wall as he watches the hustle of the beginning of the event. Just watching quietly before finding a seat in the back corner.

Penny is here, she arrives solo, but that ring on her hand states she might have a date. If he ever appears it'll be something really. The Coroner looks terribly pale and is wearing a black dress and sensible heels in a rich blue color. She gives a smile to those that she recognizes and there's a look to Alexander when he's spotted, a wave given to him. But she doesn't move from where she's standing for the moment.

Katie doesn't really own hoity-toity, theater-appropriate outfits. Or at least, nothing you'd pair with elbow gloves or opera glasses. That'd be just way too adult. She does own a few mini-dresses, although they're admittedly a little more on the racy side, fit more for a night at the club than at the theater. But! She will make do because ain't no way she can afford some fancier shit! Needless to say, this state of economics also means she has a terrible seat, up in some nosebleed balcony. It's actually kind of a wonder why she's even here in the first place. She looks around a little as people mill; maybe she's waiting on a date?

Luckily for Byron, aside from the heavy rain that coated the town in misery for most of the weekend, these last couple of days have been pleasant and sunny. There were also no weird or frightening incidences to dash his hopes of getting his client to sign that rental contract, thank God. All in all, it was a successful endeavor and the man is only now driving into town to try and catch up with the festivities surrounding the theater performance after dropping said clients and his family at the airport.

Seeing as he was out on business, Byron Thorne is already in a suit and tie, so there was no need to change before heading out to meet with the others. Once he's found a place to park and with little time to spare to enjoy the various festival fare, he's just glad that he picked up a cup of coffee along the way. He's playing catch up right now, reaching the ticket stand shortly after Lilith and Tobin had already moved on to take their seats.

Julia isn't exactly a fashion plate, but Old Navy does have some nice sundresses, and with a jacket to ward off the chill, Julia's pretty stylin' with her bold red lips that match the red flowers on her goldenrod dress. There's a few faces she's happy to see in the crowd; Lilith being one of them. "Lily!" she calls out to get the woman's attention, flashing a smile. "Where's Byron? Did you guys pick your seats yet? I'm on my own, so I was hoping to find folks to sit with. But you know, three can be a crowd if you guys are on a date or something." Byron, approaching behind her, is unseen.

"Shut up Larry, the show is starting," complains Francine from her spot in the middle. Really, somebody should tell her to shut up, considering Larry's as quiet as a door mouse. She sits up straight, giddy for the show. "I can't wait to see Macbeth on stage." Wait, wasn't there some kind of superstition about saying Macbeth in a theater?

Alexander frowns at Penny's wave. He moves through the crowd, and when she goes to take a seat, he'll try to end up sitting next to her. Immediately bringing the class in the area down by about ten points. "Miss Faust," he says, with a tilt of his head. "How are you?"

What she's wearing might not be full on going-to-the-theater finery that her parents would expect. But Baylee has dressed up for the theater, in her own way. She's got on a butterfly print Versace dress that is summery, except she's thrown on a black leather motorcycle jacket and a pair of black heeled boots with it. Make-up, hair, she's otherwise gone all out on things, even pairing jewelry with it that she doesn't often wear. No purse, though, so everything is in the pockets of her jacket, which is where she's pulling her cellphone from to make sure that it has been turned off. Wouldn't want to be that person, right? When everyone gets ushered to their seats she moves along as shown, getting comfortable, a thoughtful frown settling on her face for some reason.

Every now and then Chloe looks up now and again to see who all was filing in. A little nod here and there to people who she recognizes. Spying Nicholas sitting down in the back near where she was seated. A light smile offered to him before focusing back up on the stage and the slowly growing crowd. As the pressure began building, the show beginning, that light smile turned into a frown. But she remained silent, watchful.

Oh! Penny almost trips over herself when the lights dim and the woman goes to seat herself in the back. She doesn't make a sound and doesn't want to interrupt, so any old seat is good.

Aidan is on board for this dressing up for the theatre thing. Mostly, anyway. He's gone with the top hat and tailcoat he usually wears for work, with a ruffled white tuxedo shirt that probably actually is from the '70s and a dark red bow tie. And his best jeans and the Docs. He strolls into the theatre along with Baylee, looking quite pleased with the whole situation as he checks out the audience and heads seatward, settling in when they're ushered there pre-starting. And to the quietly relieved sigh of the woman behind him, he does take off the hat, resting it in his lap and watching attentively as the lights begin to dim.

At least her seat is somewhere not too near the vicinity of her grandmother and Erin just walks behind Geoff, not so much to hide, but to allow his more muscular frame to cut through the crowd. Catching sight of Alexander, she offers a small wave but is quickly looking for Larry when she hears his wife. Her own attire is expensive, a little black dress that reaches almost to her knees but has a slit in the back. Heels that have her towering over some people. Her hair is in loose cascades of fragrant waves that reach about mid-back. "It's busier than I was expecting too. Hopefully it'll be a good showing though."

Raymond too has dressed up for the theatre - he's actually wearing a shirt instead of a T-shirt, but it's still as black as his clothing usually is. He too is in a seat near the back, one next to the aisle so he's not sitting with his knees at the level of his ears, which leads to a lot of getting up so that other people can get past, even once the lights have dimmed.

Hannah hears Julia, tilting her head like a dog hearing a whistle before picking the woman out in the crowd and making her way over. She's small and dressed in dark clothes and has no trouble at all getting through the people between her and her friend though while in transit, one hand drifts up to rub at her temple. She's out of the sling, though a fashionable little wrap covers her elbows.

And there's

When seated, Lilith takes a moment to just sit with her playbill, legs crossing one over the other before she leans to murmur to Tobin with a flitting glance over the collective of gathered audience. Then she sits up straighter and kind of twists a little to look at who's calling her by old name. She really has to look at Julia for a long, confused moment before she waves the playbill invitingly, then suddenly flashes a bright smile of pure sunshine when she notices Byron behind, again doing the playbill waving. But then things are starting and she pulls her legs back to let Byron cross and sit in the saved seat with a small smile for Julia coming near to pick one from the row too.

If she doesn't remember exactly who Julia -is- for the moment, she's damn sure not fessing up to it because hell, the woman knows her, she'll figure it out at some point.

And there's Nicholas. He gets a wave. And Hannah! Beaming, Julia says, "Hey, girl." An arm gets draped around the petite lady, and she says, "Quick, let's grab seats." She doesn't want to press Lilith, and there's always intermission to catch up.

May made her way in quietly, easily following the usher to her seat and sliding down into it. One of her hands beginning to take the playbill and look over it with a gentle smile curling her lips.

Alexander sits awkwardly, like a man who has never been to the theatre before. He looks down at his playbill, then over to Penny. He clears his throat, then looks down at the playbill again, then out at the crowd. It's hard not to notice just how many people /stand out/ among the crowd. He looks back at Penny, tries to smile. It's sort of horrible and stiff. "This is going to be--" and then that /sense/ starts up, and his last word is almost lost as his voice falls to a whisper, "terrific." His shoulders square, and he stares at the stage, jaw set.

By the time Byron enters the theater, the lights are already beginning to dim. It's a good thing that Lilith's off in the distance waving to him with her playbill or else who knows if he would've spotted her. Well, without the help of ushers anyway. "Looks like I arrived just in time." He says flashing the group of friends his usual winning smile as he starts to settle down into his seat... just as the Thunder of the performance starts to crash. Or so he'd assume that was the case. For a time, everything seems to be going the way he expected the presentation to go, but then everything is enveloped by darkness and feeling that sudden chill come over him, he murmurs to his companions in a quietly wry tone, "They really went all out on this one..."

Nicholas sighs quietly to himself as the hair on the back of his neck stands up, "...fuck." Shifting in his seat, he pushes up to peer over the backs of many, many heads at the stage, squinting through it. Then, he sits down and takes a deep breath at an attempt to calm.

Hannah is snagged by Julia and, relieved to have found a friend in the crowd, follows her to a pair of seats and settles. "I haven't been to a play since longer than I can remember," she says, and then it's go time. She settles in and watches with big eyes until the place goes black. She stifles a gasp and fumbles for Julia's arm.

Tobin nods his head to whatever it was that Lilith whispers to him, seeming to agree with the sentiment. He rises to let Byron in to take his seat when he arrives, and gives a nod to Julia in greeting as well before settling in once more. There's a sort of tension in him that he can't quite shake, and that only grows. "Yeah," he says to Byron, but it's somewhat half-hearted. There's a gnawing in the pit of his stomach he can't ignore.

Raymond watches the play start as it always does with... hang on, it doesn't usually start like /this/. If he had a spider-sense it'd be tingling right now; he doesn't, but somehow it's tingling anyway. The fingers of his left hand flex, then ball into a fist. And from him comes a murmur of, "Shit."

"Great..." Baylee murmurs quietly to Aidan, shaking her head in his direction, even if he might not be able to quite see her in the dim lights of the theater. But there is it, that entire impression of something bad coming causes her to tense quite a bit more. She sits up a little straighter, her breath held for a minute, like she's waiting for something.

"Yes, terrific." Penny mutters to Alexander. She'd felt things building and it was not a terrific feeling. There's a bit of a jump from the woman when the thunder rolls. Because that sounded too real.

"Are you snoring? Come on, Larry, this is AMAZING!" Francine gasps at the lightning, at the thunder. She squeals at the witches. And then the theater goes black. "Larry? Larry?! WHERE ARE YOU?!" And then nothing but silence from the rotund woman in the middle of the theater.

Katie has... maybe been stood up, she realizes after waiting a bit longer, still hanging back near the stairs on the balcony rather than moving for a seat, just in case. Buuuuuuut eventually it becomes pretty apparent what the deal is, and with a roll of her eyes, she accepts the situation. "Great, now I'm stuck with this lame old- ohshit!" The thunder catches her off-guard. She may also earn a look of ire or two from nearby grayhairs who don't approve of her youthful disrespect of the hallowed performance. So, startled and glared at, she quickly settles into an aisle seat, hunching down meekly.

For not the first time since coming back, Chloe is second guessing her decision. A shudder running through her. She can't help but look upward for a moment when she hears the thunder. She grips her bag a little tighter, taking a quick sweep of the crowd before focusing on the stage. Then it's all black. And it feels oppressive.

Julia was looking forward to some of the Western European culture she actually enjoys, and of course it's gotta be ruined too, because she cannot catch a break. She knows this feeling, this emptiness, and she immediately tenses up, resisting the urge for fight or flight. "Mierda." she says, and puts her hand over Hannah's on her arm. "Keep calm. Stay quiet." It's like a mantra. Stay small, avoid notice.

Pulling a flask from his belt he cracks a grin and sets it where it is easily available, after all this is Shakespeaer and it was not meant to be endured sober. Leaning in Geoff says to Erin "I was hoping there'd be a concessions stand around and we could get some popcorn, guess we'll have to grab dinner after the show."

From her seated position, Erin had been watching, but there was a glance or two towards her grandmother who may or may not have noticed her in the crowd. Geoff is given a smile and she almost reaches for the flask too. That's when the thunder cracks and she jumps visibly. Then the lights go out and she stiffens, automatically reaching out a hand for Geoff, beside her, while trying to get a look at her grandmother for confirmation she was doing good. Except it's too dark. The voices, the cursing in the crowd all sound muted to the blood rushing to her ears. There was a difference, something was happening. Even Francine's missing husband doesn't gain her attention this time. "Do you .. feel that?" Her voice is only a hiss of a breath.

"Ooh, good thunder," Aidan whispers to Baylee, in the tone of someone who's heard an awful lot of lower-quality stage-thunder. Which is an odd thing to be a connoisseur of, but there you go. He looks fairly impressed, all in all, by the performances, even as they make his skin creep a bit; the ratio of the latter to the former increases as they go on, and by the time the black-out hits, it's very much in the lead. In that feeling of void he goes for the only remaining sense, touch, and grabs Baylee's hand. He's not uneasy. You're uneasy.

Reaching over to pat Byron quietly atop a hand with quiet and delayed 'hello' once he's settled, Lilith keeps eyes on the stage until everything goes dark. Her hand makes reflective squeeze in response and as it draws back, she uncrosses her skirted legs to put both heeled feet on the floor with slow reflex in response to the darkness. Shallowly, her breathing picks up and Tobin can feel her lean a little before murmuring to both men, "... was that supposed to happen? I've never seen MacBeth."

It's very quiet, idle commentary that doesn't match how her body is responding, though, because she clearly feels the wrong seeping in, then falling on them with the void growing inpenetrable. She isn't even sure she heard herself murmur, suddenly.

Hannah nods. Obviously Julia can't see it, but her fingers twitch so maybe that's indicator enough. She lets out a long breath when the lights come up...but no. It's still awful.

"Terrific had another definition, once," Alexander murmurs to Penny. He goes rigid as the darkness descends. He doesn't reach out for anyone's hand, but huddles in his sweater like a doof. And then they are...somewhere else. Getting soaked. And oh, there are crossbows. "Very dramatic," he mutters.

Back of the house, center, there sits Viola Elwood, leaned forward with chin resting on fingertips, head tipped to one side, judgment face turned on and observing from the first words of the Scottish Play. She's flying solo -- breathe a sigh of relief! Sometimes she brings a date, which means you should pity whomever comes with her, and SOMETIMES she shows up with her brother, which is just an invitation to an argument at any given intermission or sometimes the parking lot after. Stag means that she's there just to absorb. ...up until the point that the theater isn't a theater anymore. Then she puts one hand over both eyes, and starts jabbing her own arm with her other hand. Wake up, wake up, wake up. WAKE UP. "This is a dramaturgically stupid dream. "

"Bloody hell." Baylee murmurs, because that is not at all what Macbeth is about. Aidan's hand is given a tight squeeze, then she's sliding towards the edge of her seat so that she can start to look around at who all is in the audience. "So....sacrifice the one for the many, then?" She is pointedly not standing up though, just in case that gets taken as volunteering.

Raymond blinks at the courtyard, then exhales. "Damn," he says, heartfelt, before pinching and then punching his own arm. "Wake up, Ray. Wake up. Theatre ain't that boring, wake up..."

Julia simply nudges Hannah to remind her of her presence. Yeah, anybody getting ideas about Hannah will have to go through Julia, and while she's more a bar scrapper than a true fighter, but she'll make sure it hurts. Standing up seems to be the form for volunteering, so for now, she's on her ass. Turning her head behind her and says quietly, "That's not how it works." Who she's addressing may be unclear.

Geoff is needing that flask much sooner then he was thinking he was going to need it "Well fuck, that was pretty fast." offering the flask over to Erin he says wryly "Hey I don't think this date is going to go well...Stick with me and I'll make sure you get out of here. Looks like we're going to have some fun tonight."

"No," Tobin says to Lilith, "This.. is definitely not supposed to happen."

Yep. Should've have come back. Chloe is clutching her bag like her life depends on it as she takes stock of the situation, and the people she was now huddled with. She straightened up a bit, inhaling softly. "Oh lord." She loosened her grip on the bag just a touch. But remains quiet otherwise, trying to formulate some kind of plan of action

Penny gives a look to Alexander and a few others after the ultimatum is given. "We don't trade lives." She mutters that. She wasn't giving up anyone else to those things.

Alexander raises his chin as he's pointed at. "As you pointed out - I'm no hero. I decline." He moves into a defensive sort of stance, although stays near Penny. "Nor will I 'choose' someone to sacrifice. Fuck that. And fuck you." It's toneless.

No, Byron doesn't like any of this at all. Especially not when he feels Lilith's hand squeezing over his in her surprise or, more than likely, rational worry about what may be to come. "I've seen various productions of MacBeth, so I'd like to say maybe, but..." by now, that oppressive uneasiness is difficult to miss, "Something tells me that, yes. Yes, that was supposed to happen. But not in the normal theatrical sense."

And then... Yeah, they were surrounded by archers in the middle of a courtyard. "This does not look good at all."

When the lights come back and the entirety of their placement inside the theatre has shifted to this surrounded by crossbows and threat castle view, Lilith does a tiny spin around in place to gauge with alarm. Then there's a press of her lips hard and a narrow of her eyes as she focuses exactly on what's been said and keys into what it's all about. At least... as much as rationally possible when it comes to irrational things. Very, very slowly, she looks at Tobin and Byron and breathes while slipping out of her heels.

She may not quite be okay at the moment, but she's okay enough to know she doesn't want to dodge and run around from bolts in heels. And there doesn't seem to be a lot of conversation about matters of trade forthcoming.

From the back after a few moments of indecision from the group at large, Nicholas sighs and raises his hand, "That's easy. Might as well be me." It isn't like he has much going for himself other than a job that doesn't much appreciate him, loneliness and depression. A trifecta of feel-good reasons, right? Turning to face the closest 'bitch', he steps toward her, wrists out as if for handcuffing, "You can let them all go."

Still learning about whatever it is she can do, Erin suddenly finds herself the target of archers and no weapon in hand. Of course that's when she remembers the island, but this seemed worse. No joking Globetrotters. This was all too real. She doesn't take the flask, there's stark fear in her features and she looks away from Geoff to her hands, opening and closing them. Could she remember how this was done? Yes. Reverse the healing to attack. A few breaths so she doesn't actually hyper ventilate, but she doesn't move away from Geoff. "I'm scared," she confesses to him, shaking visibly as she lifts her hands towards one of the archers.

"... What the shit?!" This is Katie's reaction to the sudden change of venue, so to speak. "How the fuck- Where are we- Where did the theater go- I'm not even on anything!!!" And then uh, archers pointing at them? "Are those fucking real?!" She doesn't seem entirely keen to find out, and looks for the biggest person around to hide behind. That is a plan. Definitely a plan.

"I JUST wanted to see the Scottish play," Viola says, a little louder, her hand finally coming off her eyes. "That's all I wanted. I wanted hubris and bloody hands and all that shit to stay on the stage where it belongs! And this is barely through the first scenes. Come on!" If you can't wake up, lecture the performers? From a crouch.

Penny gives a look over to Alexander and there's a dip of her head to him, "You'll be fine." she tells him. Then there's a bit of a sigh, "Why is it always Sundays?" she whispers.

Okay, so maybe Alexander's shoulders droop a bit as the witches /lobby for his torture and death/. He looks around, clearly not entirely certain that the rest of the group won't just decide he's expendable. His stance shifts, and although his eyes are on Polly, there's also a sense that he miiiight be preparing to fight off...everyone. And die horribly.

Geoff slips an arm briefly about Erin to give her a quick hug "Hey look babe, you stay with me and we're going to walk out of this. Take that fear, use it, turn it into energy, just don't dwell on it and let it freeze you up. The first person you need to beat in a fight is yourself, your fear, your uncertainty. You go at it until you're done." with a wicked grin he calls over to Alexander "Don't worry bro, we bumped fists today, not going to let them cart you off."

Chloe really doesn't understand what is going on. Well, she does somewhat, but being so recently back...she's apparently very out of the loop. So she just looks for something familiar. And that familiar was Alexander looking like he was about to be targeted. He might be a potential patient in the future. And she'd rather it be farther in the future than the same day they met. So...she focused on Polly too.

Hannah has been relegated to stunned silence for a few moments, recalculating...recalculating..."We're not giving you anybody." It's quiet, but firm.

May goes wide-eyed as she realizes everything going on. A nervous swallow as she quickly forms a telepathic shield around not just herself. But also around Alexander, Byron, Nicholas and Tobin as well.

"...what the fuck?" Aidan says, when the 'lights' come back up; it's a weird combination of resignation and surprise. He looks around at the arches warily. And then there's the 'rules'. "What? No," he says, "That's fucked up. Give yourselves to Them if you want Them to have someone so much." Nicholas's volunteerism gets a rather worried look, which isn't much relieved by the refusal, really.

Mentally taking a headcount of this cast on stage, archers and all, Byron tries go gauge which of them these.. vile villains are planning on going after. There were a lot of theater folk though, but there was also a lot of shining audience members. One in fact is a familiar face now being shown to him within his mind, making Alexander all that more intrusive as he can't shake the investigator's image for a time. "I've got to wonder what Alexander did to deserve this." He murmurs aloud to the group, every muscle in his own body tensing as he prepares himself for what very well could be a bloodbath.

"We have to feel guilt. Anguish. Pain. One person wouldn't be enough, no matter how tasty the meal. If we don't /choose/, then there's no tasty side dishes," Alexander guesses, eyes flicking to Keene, then to Nicholas, then back to Polly. "It doesn't matter, in the end, the darkness means to have us all." He looks...rather pathetically surprised, though, as Geoff speaks up, and then as the telekinetic shield forms around him. He leaps forward, and he /crackles/, his hands sparking with blue-white fire as he reaches for Polly, his expression blank with concentration.

Lilith rubs at her head, suddenly, gritting her teeth as she turns again to start looking through the crowd instead of the surroundings with wariness, that seed planted inside her eventually finding and stalling eyes on Alexander. After breathing hard, she shakes her head, like she's trying to snap out of one thing or another, and the countdown seems to help with that. Because she's suddenly looking at the archers and the one that looks like he's trained on her little trio there to let loose a bolt gets a limb immediately immolated in flame. It doesn't throw him off balance enough to make the crossbow bolt stray, though. Luckily for Lilith, it's impacted by a sudden slam of shield force that makes her recoil a little.

"What the fuck is I think this is not going to be your average play." Baylee points out to Aidan, a look of irritation passing over her face, eyes shifting around to see if she can spot where Alexander is in the crowd, but then it happens, and whatever further thought process is rather rudely interrupted as arrows begin to fly, and things go to shit. There's a startled sound as arrows come at her. One even hitting, but somehow she gets lucky and it catches on her jacket. Which just soundly pisses her off and she reaches out with her mind to grab a rock, flinging it in Sarah's direction. Vaguely. Thataway.

Penny gives a look to Alexander, "You can protect yourself a bit right?" she asks him. "Because I think it's about to get really really violent in here." she admits. "YOU'LL HAVE NONE OF US!" the usually demure and quiet woman barks out across the auditorium and then there's a closing of her fist as she focuses on Ashley.

Erin is quickly bolstered by Geoff's words of encouragement and though she says nothing back immediately she tilts her chin and there's fire in her eyes. Kill or be killed instinct kicks in, but there is no damage to the archer and she closes her eyes briefly to center herself so she can try again. She gets a hit, but like hers, it glances off of her.

Hannah squeezes her eyes shut as waves of energy pass over and around her, but shakes it off. Her eyes narrow and pebbles near her feet start to wobble, then rise slowly.

A streek of fire shot from Chloe's hand. She didn't like using her powers but, this seemed like a situation to do so. The fire glanced off Polly it seemed, but Alex and co had her under control. So, Chloe decided to do what she did best instead. Help people. Not hurt them. Starting with Alex since he was closest. "Didn't thing I'd be patching you up this quick." She murmured.

Julia lifts he hands up, looking a lot like she's channeling Invisible Woman when the manifestation of her own Glimmer crackles to life, becoming a dome shape to block the assaults of the archers. "Hannah, you know the drill." Stay next to her, basically. Her shield encompasses those closest to her; Byron, Lilith, Hannah, and fortunately for her, Baylee.

Geoff moves to stand in front of Erin once he spots an archer that has drawn a bead on her, pointing up at him and taunting "Hey fuck face, were you born that ugly or was your mother a bigger failure then you are and couldn't even manage to end you." his tone entirely confident and cocky in this diss. Though as he concentrates on the man he does attempt to make him sizzle

"Curses and betrayal sound about GAH!" Raymond skips to the side, the crossbow bolt striking a spark off the stone where his foot had been. "Screw this." He looks over towards one of the dogs, then points at the crossbowman who nearly shot him. "Kill."

Nicholas is suddenly surrounded by what must pass as a surreal gunfight, and he crouches and covers his head instinctively. Commotion and turmoil, but fights have wounded, and instantly he is spinning, studying the 'triangle' of friendlies for people going down.

As arrows start to fly, Tobin takes aim at one of the archers and lets a bolt of electricity fly, arcing toward it and striking it firmly in the chest. He stays close to Byron and Lilith and says, "Probably knows more than they want him to," in answer to Byron's question. He then takes aim at the archer that just tried to hit him. To Nicholas he says, "Well the darkness can't have us, not today anyway."

A streek of fire shot from Chloe's hand. She didn't like using her powers but, this seemed like a situation to do so. The fire glanced off Polly it seemed, but Alex and co had her under control. "Do try to be careful Mr. Clayton." Chloe murmured. Keeping an eye on him and then doing a quick scan of the others before focusing up on an archer.

Alexander takes a boulder to the chest, but that doesn't stop him from barreling forward and grabbing Polly by the shoulders. The circuit completes, and there's a sound like a bug-zapper turned up to twelve. When she follows, he grabs briefly at his shoulder. "That was for the FUCKING seagull, bitch." Then he spins to target another witch.

Katie does not really know what is going on, and based on her prior life experience, is pretty sure she's tripping. There's no other explanation and who knows, maybe someone slipped her something sometime?! "What the shit, what the shit, what the- SHIT!" An arrow lands a little too close. And while she's busy covering her head and crawling between people, a few worried glances up reveal the people around her /fighting back/ like its Harry Potter.

Arrows. Fricking arrows! "Whoever. Said. The. Name. SOMEBODY did," Viola mumbles. You'd think she should be reacting to this like it's real, but she's frozen, still looking for exit-stage-right right on out of this nightmare, watching missiles fly around her. More upset with whomever broke stage protocol and clearly brought this all on them than the violence. There are those ready to fight, and then there's...her.

Perhaps sensing the very archer who has their sights set on Lilith, Byron's mind wanders to seek out, ah, man's best friend. That will do. Coaxing the dog to obey his command, he sends the canine forth to leap out towards the tenth archer, threatening to rip their throat out, just as the man goes up in sudden flames, leaving the beast to tear at burning flesh. With that in mind, he turns towards Lilith curious as whether or not that was her doing.

That's when he takes notice of all the others around him, working together to form some sort of little team. "They could ask more kindly, if I'm gonna be honest. This isn't going to win them any friends." And with that, he takes hold of that dog, who is happily chomping away at the burnt corpse, to set its sight on one of the others, especially having noticed an arrow coming towards them, or towards Tobin, from a particular direction.

Prepared to try again, Erin feels a red hot anger encompass her, building, engulfing her in red hot flames, figuratively speaking of course. She's not on fire guys. It's Geoff's voice that alerts her to his proximity and she gasps at his protective gesture. There's a tender look given him at the dressing down he insults the archer with, but she does manage to step just enough to the side so that.. wait, was that fire? From her? That was new. And she manages to miss Geoff at least. "I swear I didn't even know that was possible. Last time it felt more like a plasma cutter or something." Probably not. But it felt that way! Her voice is steadier now though, and she stands beside Geoff, right where she'd promised to stand, and fights with him.

Raymond dodges another arrow - barely - and his assailant takes a dog to the leg. Raymond's lips peel back from his teeth as he eyes the fight up on the walls. "Kill /harder/, damnit," he orders his new canine friend.

"Son o...." Baylee just gets more and more irritated as those arrows keep coming for her, enough that she keeps getting distracted. Maybe that is why she keeps missing? Right. Probably not. But whatever it is she keeps up with the rock flinging, "Mother...fucking...pieces of shit."

"They could definitely take a lesson or two from you in how to win friends and influence people," Tobin says to Byron with a smirk, but that arc of electricity doesn't seem to have deterred the archer that tried to hit him, and so he shakes out his fingers, and gives it another go.

Alexander spins and lunges at Sarah, but his swipe at the woman is wide and clumsy. He moves warily around her, looking for an opening, even as SHE shoots /actual/ lightning at people. "That /is/ convenient," he can't help but mutter at her. "I don't suppose you'll consider surrendering?" Despite everything, there's something vaguely hopeful in the question. After all, SHE didn't explode a seagull.

"I kinda got that im--" Aidan starts, breaking off with a yelp as an arrow glances off him, and another seems to bounce off Baylee. He growls, hand drawing back like he's about to pitch a baseball at one of those Archers, and what comes off it on the forward throw is a fireball. His aim's only a little more effecting than the archer's this time, it seems. The next one doesn't seem to do the job either, which just makes his eyes narrow. Okay. Concentrate harder, then. Make them burn.

Julia grits her teeth, the force of her Glimmer causing he to experience a little bit of backblown air. A Beyonce level blow-out and this is the shit she has to go through! "Stay close to me." she says tersely to those around her. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!"

She was rusty. Had to be. Chloe finally properly let go of her bag. A slow, even breath and then she was focusing on again. This time. Turning back to the witches who were throwing boulders and shit. She locked eyes with Megan briefly and started to ready an attack.

Penny gives a look to see where everyone is going, but there's more than one person on her so she has to focus for the moment. She winds her fist back and lobs a fireball at Ashley, but it does nothing for the moment against the womans armor. Bah!

It's kind of a strange time to be a little sheepish about catching someone on fire, but Lilith just kind of confirms Byron's brief look with a bare shoulder hitching up and a twitch of lips despite herself with pride. But it's a split second kind of thing, and she seems to take rally from Tobin's words. Instead of lashing out with flame on the armored crossbowmen this time to ignite from afar, she changes tact and uplifts her chin to try and focus on the vitals or disabling limbs beyond the halting armor from the inside out. At least, if she can manage it.

Hannah murmurs, "I'm good," to Julia, sticking close as advised. A pebble rises from the ground and bounces harmlessly as the shield in front of her reflects a blast. Her lips curls a little and this time, a crossbow bolt zips up to waist-level, thrumming in the empty air.

Somehow standing in the middle of the pocket of tornadic fury, Nicholas is slowly turning, watching the surreality surrounding him. He feels displaced, an out-of-body experience in 3D-slow-mo, even all the sounds are muted by the rushing sound of water. It's a wonder, and he laughs just a little...

And more rocks fly. A rock. And nothing. Baylee is right there in Aidan's boat with him, getting highly irritated about the fact that so far nothing seems to be landing where it should. "Damnit..." Now she's getting more mad, more irritated. Just. More.

Geoff somehow avoided getting hit with an arrow, that was pretty rad. Though in that moment of that the arrows are raining past he misses with igniting his target and...Ignites nothing, calling back to Erin "Yeah, did I ever mention we can light things up? It's pretty useful." Though he talks to her he's looking around the ramparts seeing where the next set of arrows might come from so he can at least attempt not to get hit again even if he is trying to also set someone on fire (poorly) at the same time

Chloe could feel it inside. A slow burning anger. Churning and twisting with every. Fucking. Miss. She focuses on Megan again, ready to attack her again.

Raymond doesn't quite get out of the way of the third crossbow bolt, but it hits his coat and falls away. "Kill that guy instead," he orders his faithful-but-so-far-ineffectual hound, pointing at the archer who just tried to get his shirt all bloody.

"I don't know that I like doing that. I felt less in control. I'm going to try what I did last time. Maybe I can at least manage to harm one of them." Hell, maybe the others had shields too? Erin takes a moment to smile at Geoff, a brief moment. "You promised to take me out for dinner, we have to survive this."

Alexander lunges at his target again. He grins a frankly disturbing sort of grin when his hands seem to make contact - but then spark and slide off harmlessly as he jumps away. He moves in again, this time more directly...and despite this, the witch easily evades his crackling hands. "Goddamn it, woman, just STAND FUCKING STILL!"

"Fuck you!" Baylee calls towards Sarah, who she is still throwing rocks at. Although they seem to be being more softballed in her general direction. "Just....fucking get hit already!"

Julia gaze narrows as she realizes that the Dark Men's cronies have tried to take shots at her. "Try again, pendejo." she snarls at Louis in particular, and the incoming assaults just seem to piss her off more. She takes a deep breath. She's still got something left in her, and damned if she'll go down without a fight.

Chloe just couldn't remember being so ANGRY about something in so long. Megan seems to have turned her attention from Chloe, but Chloe is apparently dead set on at least hurting this bitch.

Penny is still getting two angry Thespians trying to hit her and she's about to try to light herself into a pillar of flames...but she's not THAT scary. Not yet. There's more fireball lobbing, "Just. Fucking. Die." she grunts out.

"Well this is going nowhere," proclaims Hannah dryly as the bolt slings itself towards Louis and does absolutely nothing. Another bolt skitters across the ground to stop at her feet, then bounce upward. "We got this," she asides to Julia.

OMFG THEY SHOT HER! Katie wails, even though, on inspection, she doesn't seem to be injured. How that is, is definitely anyone's guest. Armor? Her dress is definitely the OPPOSITE of armor. "What is happening what is happening will one of you fucking tell me what is happening?" Yeah, she's also kind of losing it, crawling further back from the more concentrated line of weird magic fighty people.

When another volley of arrows are sent forth, Byron can't help but notice that they stop short on actually hitting any of them. I mean, even when it looks as if their little band is directly in the arrow's trajectory. This makes him look at all the faces around him. In the midst of combat, it's difficult to tell exactly who is doing what, especially when it comes to ranged attacks. Oh look, Julia is there and gauging by her stance, he has an idea that she may be one of those doing their best to protect the group. With that in mind, he works to seek out anyone daring to threaten her, sending that mental image to his canine companion.

Raymond, for whom 'angry' is more-or-less a default state, is more focused on getting even. He focuses on the dog again and points at one of the archers who isn't leaving. "Can you at least put a dent in that guy over there? Maybe a toothmark on him?" But despite the dog's best efforts it's getting nowhere - and no further than the archers are achieving, it seems.

Alexander closes with the witch again. For a guy who claims to not like hurting things, he's pretty much screaming with frustration when she blocks his attack again, sparks flying away from their points of contact like a miniature fireworks display.

Another damn miss. But maybe because she was momentarily distracted by Aidan being a bad ass and taking out Keene! She renewed her focus and turned to Ashley as well. Since Keene called her out.

Nope. And more nope. Baylee is full of a whole lot of nope today. But, lord, is she trying. With her flung rocks at Sarah, the woman that just refuses to get smacked with a ball. But then at least someone gets lit up like a candle, and she laughs at poor Keene and his sizzling, "Yes!"

Tobin finds his attacks on Ashley to be unsuccessful in penetrating whatever she has protecting her, and so he once aggain turns his attention toward the archers. Katie's wailing gets a "Just stay down and close to the rest of us." There's a time for explanations, and now just isn't it, it would seem.

There's a tiny hop back again far too late for avoiding a bolt, but it's more in response to Lilith reflex responding to the slam of bolt into the shield right in front of her abdomen with suck of her stomach that pulls her out of focus. After looking around at who's nearby with pensive beat toward clue-in, she knows it's probably not Tobin or Byron doing that, but then she notices that Julia hadn't been lashing outward all that time with her focus different than the others. Setting her jaw, she steps a little closer and spins in place to see where the archers are taking aim, seeming to focus on what's trying to pick them off while others manage the bigger quarry on the ground.

Well, if anger and frustration are tasty, at least someone's getting something out of this? Aidan growls again, eyes as much fire as his weapon and whirls from the archer he's been throwing fireballs at toward Keene. Fine! Might as well go for the head of the snake. He uses both hands this time, something between the movement of a shotput and 'hadoken', and hurls it that way. Right into his face and hair. THAT'S better. Aidan grins rather ferally, with a surprisingly quiet, "Fuck yes."

Julia suddenly wilts, her arms dropping. "That's it, that's all I've got!" she alls out in warning to those around her, and stepping back one pace, seems to intuitively pik up on what Hannah's doing. Her hands enact the motion of lift and then forward as multiple arrows raise off the ground. Hurtling toward Louis, hopefully they'll result in him turning into a pin cushion. Hopefully.

Focused on the archer, Erin had missed the attack from Keene coming towards her. Luckily it grazes her and does no actual damage. Her own shot in the dark goes wild though, missing. Quickly, she turns to see how Geoff is faring, relieved he seems to be uninjured as far as she can tell. The antics though, the threats continue despite the loss of the boss and so she continues to fight back.

It was far too satisfying watching the fireball land square on Ashley's head. However, seeing the others around her start getting hit, she switches modes, moving quickly towards some of the seriously injured to try and help.

Good thing Julia called out warning, because the next crossbow bolt whizzing Lilith's way is -not- stopped by invisible force and impact, and she can't work a way to get through that armor. After immediately noticing she's in sights after lashout, she steps to the side and then reaches outward to refocus, breaking the actual armor the archer is garbed with before blood spurts out from underneath, using the pieces of it to stab inward at flesh on one of his legs. But he gets off a retaliatory fire and with her distracted, she finally takes one of those bolts right into the stomach with gasp of surprise and a staggering look down.

Well...that was not exactly what she meant. Baylee manages to smack Sarah with a rock, finally. But worse than that, she's lit on fire and he causes her to scream in surprise, and hit the ground seconds later.

Stay down and keep closer? Katie can do that. Although the 'keep close' part she seems a little more nervous of, what with the 'good guys' also spouting fire and doing all sorts of other bizarre things. But they're not shooting her with crossbows! So they're 10000%% cooler, in her book. "Um is this really not a play?" she wonders at the dramatics. "This isn't some bullshit performance art flash-mob thing, right?"

"I despise you!" Alexander shouts at Sarah, snarling and abandoning all pretense of defending himself. What little cool he has? He has lost it, and is focusing on just trying to grab onto the witch and fry her to a crisp.

Hannah pats Julia lightly on the upper arm. "You did great." And they do turn Louis into a pincushion! And then he turns Julia into a pincushion in return! This will not do. With a dirty glare slung at the players, she crouches next to her friend and rests a hand on her shoulder. "Remember the little shows we put on back in the day, to keep ourselves busy? That was epic next to this bullshit."

Raymond's loyal dog takes a bite out of one of the archers, but it's not enough to stop the archer from loosing another bolt. This time the bolt doesn't get deflected, cutting through flesh to embed itself in bone. Raymond blinks down at it, then sits down in a hurry. Or maybe his knees went out. It's hard to tell.

Julia watches with satisfaction as arrows and other items from multiple sources make their way in and through Louis. She starts to smile, only for her to utter an absolutely chilling scream of pain. Her body arcs and shuddes as electricity courses through it, and she drops to her knees. She looks to Hannah wearily. "I can't...anymore. I'm sorry."

Ashley goes down with a huge fireball and the hellp of others, and there's a look for another target. Penny isn't terribly injured so she's just making sure she could help out whoever needed it.

Hitting the archer helped boost Erin's confidence in the fight and instead of backing down or backing off, she centers herself and goes for one of the women. Except she has that crawly creepy feeling. Despite it she can't seem to stop fighting. She had to fight, to stand up for herself, for Geoff, and the others.

In the midst of the clearing proverbial smoke, Nicholas starts to focus on the action a little more lucidly, starting to actively look for the wounded. Seeing Chloe paying attention to Aidan and Baylee, and he reaches for the latter, "Baylee? Baylee!"

Aidan catches Sarah aiming at Baylee, and whirls to tosses the fire at the witch next. He's thrown off, though, as she gets Baylee first, and turns on a dime toward her. Not even a comment, just an immediate move to DO something-- as arrows come in from two angles, and he falls as well.

Geoff cracks a grin, oh sure he's been trying to set Megan on fire all this time because she's been a /massive/ bitch to him, which just made this fight all that much more fulfilling even if he's failed to do anything. Then he catches her looking towards him and he throws up his middle finger "Hey Megan! You might want to actually check that tat I gave you. The vines are in the shape of a dick." Is this true or not? Who knows, but it is certainly going to need to be delved into later.

Just as he sees Baylee stirring, Nicholas starts to lean over and talk to her before something slams into the back of his skull and the world goes dark. He slumps over beside her.

A warm sort of light emits from Chloe as she removed the arrows from Aidan and healed the worst of his wounds. This felt better. Helping people. She would spend a couple extra moments making sure Aidan was good and helping him up. Then she rushed over to Nicholas to tend to him.

You know why you DON'T jump head first into psychic combat? Because when you do, you take a fireball to the chest. Alexander doesn't even dodge. He just gets knocked on his ass and his poor, sad sweater goes up in flames, along with an unfortunate portion of his chest. "Fuck!" He rolls, trying to put himself out and roll to his feet before someone does something horrible to him.

Hannah is so damned chill. Infuriatingly so, maybe even to humans too. "Sure you can," she tells her friend in an encouraging voice. "Bad theater can't be permitted to go on like this. Grab a bolt and let's take care of it, okay?"

Fire! It's always fire these days. And something about a knife to the face, but so far that's not happened. Baylee doesn't keep screaming though, and thankfully she gets put out, and revived, smelling salts under her nose. Whatever. It's enough, and when Nicholas goes down after getting her back together she surges back to her feet, grabbing a rock as she sets her eyes on the archers this time, "That was bloody unfair of you!"

May getting to Nicolas first, she shifts gears and quickly goes to Viola, seeing her fall.

Raymond sits in the courtyard, directing his dog again now that the animal's target isn't moving. "Next," he orders the beast, and the animal does indeed move on to the next. He may be injured but he's not out of the fight yet. Yet.

So it was Julia, after all. But whatever protection that she was able to give has finally worn off leaving the group open to piercing arrows among other terrible and bad things. Byron is busy moving the frothing hound from one actor to another, when he realizes that not only did Lilith take what looked to be a nasty hit, but Julia was downed. "Jesus." Trying to focus his attention between sending his attack dog to target anyone going after his downed friend, Byron makes sure to position himself in front the fallen Julia just as she's being tended to, taking a hit in the process, one that makes him stumble a step back, a hand reaching for his hurt arm.

Lilith probably shouldn't still be standing, but once she sees the blood blossoming and darkening the blue of her dress to black at one side of her stomach, she lashes out with rage and fire that ignites the archer next to where the other had been standing, total reflex that steals her pallid realization and flushes her skin with the fury of it. That damn armor again, though, it's not super flammable so it might have been a bad movie, reflex as it was. Breathing through her teeth, she calms herself and tries to focus with a swallow on where to actually direct her attention, the coloring of her furious moment leaving her as she moves to look and is spiked through with reminding pain from the lodge. Nevertheless, she grits her teeth and looks at an archer taking nock on Byron nearby.

Erin assists with Tobin to take out another and she feels as if she's found some sort of groove or something. That feeling as if she's feeding the evil is buried for now. Geoff was hit, several others she knew were down. She's going to go down fighting if she had to. The response from Geoff brings a rapid response. "Never trust your tattoo artist! You'll never get me in that chair now." A grin accompanying the teasing words.

Julia gives Hannah a crazy grin, shooting May a grateful look for her ministrations. Getting to her feet, she roars, "Deja de subir por el pentametro yambico!" As another host of arrows seek a home in one of the archers. Angry wounded Latina is angry.

"Thanks," Aidan says rather hoarsely to Chloe, looking immediately to where Baylee'd fallen, and relaxes slightly when he sees her moving. ...and Nicholas falls, fuck. He pushes to his feet and looks about to return the favour when he sees May on it. Okay, then! A look toward the battlements, and his gaze focuses on the last witch standing. The ball of flame slides right across her chest, leaving a glowing line but no more, this time.

Chloe works her magic on Viola! But before she can even begin helping her up - an arrow hits her square in the chest and she falls. Stunned!

"Fuck..." Baylee looks irritated by the return to ineffectiveness. But she does at least look relieved that she's not been lit on fire again, and that Aidan is on his feet. Still. Since she missed the fact that he went down the same time she did. "I'm going to get one of them..." It's spoken to herself as she switches from rocks to something meant to be hurled through the air, still focusing on the archer.

With that, Julia looks up at the archers. "If you're smart," she snarls, "You'll run."

Aidan watches Megan go with a growl, but hesitates, looking up at the archers. "Hey! Drop your bows and run like her!" he yells, "'cause we're prolly gonna keep throwing and there's a lot more of us than you!" And, indeed, he aims... in case.

Alexander just doesn't have it in him to attack with his previous fury. He does lunge at Megan as she turns, clearly not willing to let her retreat. But his hands fall well short of her, and he staggers forward, quickly realizing there's no way he'll run them down. He looks blearily up at the walls, as if only just remembering that the archers are even there. He frowns. "Run," he echoes. But backs it up with more than words - he sends a wave of fear up at the figments, trying to break their wills.

Byron can sense a hostile gaze on him, but there's also those eyes on Lilith and right now, Lily wasn't looking that great. There were so few of them left, these enemies, but once he's got a good idea on who is eyeing who, sensing no danger surrounding Julia, he makes his move to keep himself between Lilith an that piercing arrow. "Keep back." He tells her and anyone else in the area. He knows that someone else has their sights set on... And then it's gone. There's this sense of relief when Megan books it, but it's not over yet.

"'Scuse me, we are using this sharp thingies," Hannah yells back at the archers because she's not a weapons expert.

When Megan goes running, Erin looks back to the archers too caught up in the moment to bring herself to stop. Back to the archer she started with, she prepares to continue fighting.

Tobin clenches his teeth when he sees Lilith take a hit and he tries to get closer to her, as though to physically put himself between her and further incoming attacks, whether they are somehow shielded or not, even as he takes aim on Megan, starting to tire a bit from expending so much energy. But when Megan runs, and there are few archers left, he turns his attention toward Lilith.

Raymond directs his dog. "Never mind. Just growl at the guy now," he tells it. And the dog does, lowered head and fangs bared as it offers a low and potentially bloodcurdling howl. If the archers have blood to curdle, that is.

Alexander has Had Enough. He just has. It will probably be a great meal for the horrors that lurk, but he reaches down into his soul, and dredges up some of memories of the horrors of thirty years or so of involuntary Dreaming, and simply /hurls/ it at their minds. "RUN," he shouts again, while the horror explodes over the dream fragments. There are screams from the walls, faces going slack with reflected terror, before as many as he can reach break and run, trampling anyone in their path as they just try to escape the things happening inside their not-real minds. Even for people who were just trying to kill the group a moment ago, the wails might be a bit...pitible.

Julia looks over at Alexander with no little bit of awe. "Yo man, you creepy as fuck sometimes."

Nicholas sits up, rubbing the back of his neck with a groggy giggle, "Whoa..."

Alexander droops, a puppet with the strings cut. The horrid voice in his mind has him flinching and seeming to collapse into himself. But it's Julia, he answers, as he puts one arm over his blackened chest. "I am aware," he says, wearily. He doesn't look at anyone.

Geoff rolls his eyes at that and mutters "Well that's bullshit, they pick a fight, demand blood and get their asses handed to them then blame us for them losing." tucking his hands into his pockets he says dryly "Their blood is on their own hands, they took a chance, gambled, lost and are now just trying to rub it in that we should have just let them bully us. I told Megan once, and I showed it here. I'll fuck up anyone who tries to make me make choices I don't want to. They can go fuck themselves."

Raymond stays where he is on the cobbles, hoping that they get back to the theatre soon and that his good shirt doesn't have a hole in it when they do. The voice - is a voice. "The only way to win was not to play," he says. "Which means we'd all've been dead. So yeah, they can take that bullshit and cram it where the sun don't shine."

As reality reasserts itself, Julia gingerly touches her stomach and looks over at May. "Thank you." she says sincerely. May's probably never going to pay for anything at Fried Fish for the rest of her natural life. After which, she adds, "Is it possible to want both a hospital and a bottle of tequila both at the same time?"

Penny gives a sigh as she is trying to prepare herself to get back into the real world, wondering what has happened now that the Dream is over. She looks for Alexander, "Are you hurt? Need healing?" she asks him.

"I'm okay." Lilith insists to Tobin as the bolt is still lodged in her and she sways on her bare feet as if she's woozily dancing a little to stay upright with those quiet words, watching to make sure the archers flee after a pointed check that Byron is still standing. It's accidentally a little pretty, the way she fights to stay on her feet in that little dress, eyes turning onto the others that are down just before the setting starts to shift. The bolt is gone when it does, but the hole it made probably isn't given the way blood is leaking out of her.

Once that shift is made, though, between the castle and the theatre, she starts to fall over.

"Oh dear God.." Erin's voice is a whisper and all of that fierceness, that righteous indignation inside of her withers into self doubt, her hands at her ears trying to dispel the voice, closing her eyes to dispel the images. It had affected her much more than it had Geoff it seems. He does successfully overwrite the awful voice with his own and she hurriedly opens her eyes to seek him out, willing the images away. A few deep breaths later and she reaches for him to steady herself. Not clinging or tugging, just a moments strength she draws from him. There's no agreement spoken but she does seek out Alexander with her eyes, her own expression stoic.

"I took a fireball to the chest," Alexander points out, tonelessly, to Penny. "And I think there was a large rock, as well." He still doesn't look at her, or anyone else. "Antiseptic is probably going to be necessary. But if there are people who are more injured..." he shrugs, and starts slouching his way towards Polly's body. He looks down at her. Staaaaaare. At least he doesn't take out a phone to take a photo?

"Don't listen to them." Julia says wearily. "Don't get angry. You get angry, they feed, either way. So just...don't."

"Yeah, no you're not," Tobin says and puts one arm around Lilith to keep her upright, even as they shift back into the theatre. When she starts to fall he makes sure that she doesn't, keeping her on her feet. "Listen, don't pull it out. Keep it there for right now, just in case it's keeping you from bleeding more." He, unfortunately, doesn't have the medical training to know for certain.

Geoff 's arms come to wrap protectively about Erin, holding her close as he notices that she is clearly shaken by their ordeal. Bumping his brow to hers he asks "Are you okay, they didn't get you out there did they?" Searching her over with his eyes to make sure she isn't too badly ruffled, and releasing her once they are back in the theater.

As soon as they are back in the theater, Penny rises to leave, because she doesn't want to be stuck in a crowd and dealing with things. She scoots for the doors and then makes her way out.

Through the chaos, Byron was ready to take on all-comers... if he had to, but once the one actress flees, the archers all follow suit. There's this brief moment where he wonders if they were mere cowards or the types of entities to follow their leader, but then he takes a look in Alexander's direction, having other ideas now. It doesn't help that there's another voice, a mixture of everything and nothing, that booms within his mind. "Maybe if I didn't have that unnerving feeling that my life or the life of my friends were endangered, I'd have a different opinion." He murmurs to that voice. Probably not meaning it.

Still, he moves looks towards the others, the injured especially. "We need to get you some help and fast." He's not sure if this were a dream or real or what. Will everything be okay once they were awake. He wasn't taking any chances. The same goes for Julia though. He knows that they both took the brunt of some of those attacks.

"No more dates, Aidan." Baylee informs him, letting the crossbow bolt drop as everyone runs, only to suddenly have everything plunged into darkness again, which she's tensing for. Because that was what started this all. But as soon as it looks normal again, she's pulling her jacket around her, zipping it up to try and hide the evidence of having been lit on fire. Again. She then moves for Aidan, grabbing his arm, "No more Sunday dates..." Which is then quickly followed with, "Are you okay?"

May smiles to Julia as she says, "No problem. And... I think so?" Her gaze soon looking about to all there, as a gentle sigh escapes her lips. Always something in this town. "I think I need a breeze and a bottle..." is softly commented, not to anyone in particular though, but does look around as she asks, "Anyone want to join me?"

And... Back? "Ohshitwhatwasthatareweback?Ohthankgod." Katie, in her aisle seat, is visibly... feeling herself up? Well, OK, she's checking herself for injuries, not sure what of that was real or imagined, and now, with the change in scene, all the MORE convinced that was some kind of strange trip. Except? With a slightly suspicious, narrow-eyed glance, she takes an inventory of other people around the theater. Most of them are just going on about the play like it was (mostly) a normal performance. But she can't help but set a suspicious glance around the seating to pick out a few familiar faces, some of whom /very much/ do not look OK? So there's that. Ultimately she decides just to gtfo. "Um excuse me yeah clap clap great show um pardon me coming through." Exit, stage... whichever!

Alexander stays seated in his seat for a while after the darkness descends again, then levers himself carefully to his feet. His slouch, for once, is actually useful, letting him sort of huddle around the burned front of his sweater while he tries to make his way quietly through the crowd, aiming for a side door. A nice, dark side door where no one asks any awkward questions.

Julia leans against her seat, sort of wearily watchng those around her. Nicholas in particular gets a little wriggle of her fingers in geeting. Oh, hey there. Fancy seeing you here. All that jazz. "Who's buying?" she calls out.

Aidan gives Alexander a small smile, before looking down at the wounds the arrows made in him. Still not looking so great, honestly, though he just makes a face at what he can see and moves to check on Baylee. "Yeah, that's bullshit," he agrees with the general opinion at large, and looks her over before there's a burst of glimmer some might detect, fixing up some of her damage. And then they're back, and he sighs. "...you okay?" he asks then, glancing around for anyone looking particularly badly hurt and untended to, and then for his hat. "...yeah, okay, Sunday night is not date night."

Raymond looks down at himself when the lights come back up. It's just as well the shirt is black - it doesn't show blood nearly as badly. He turns so the mundanes can get past him, but doesn't seem inclined to move too far just yet.

Taking the comfort where it's offered, Erin holds him back, lifting her eyes to his. "No, I'm fine, I'm not hurt. Just.. all that at the end was way too much." Then he releases her and she finds herself seated in the chair to the applause. There's a slow blink as if waking from sleep and her eyes dart to check on her grandmother. Thomas was there. Without a word she approaches one of the townsfolks nearby her and asks quietly about Margaret. Her eyes round and she takes off like a shot towards Thomas to find out where her grandmother was. Poor Thomas is going to get grilled.

Nicholas slumps against the back wall, panting and wheezing, steadying himself with a hand on the floor as he slowly slide-sits. "Fuckin' Shakespeare," he half-chuckles as people stare at him on their way out.

It's kind of a lame random thing to think about while bleeding from a hole in the gut, but as they're brought back about the darkened theatre, Lilith tells Tobin a bit woozily as he holds her upright, "... I think I lost my shoes. They were red." So's her hand as she pushes against the side of her stomach suddenly, a little disoriented from adrenaline surge shutting down and pain and blood loss, "Will you... find Geoffy? I hurt. Where's Byron...? Is he bleeding? I can..." No, she probably can't. But it's the thought that counts for the time being.

Chloe winces as she starts to come around. Blinking, listening to that eerie voice. Her chest hurt like a mofo. But...she was alive? It felt like she'd been hit by a truck. Was she bleeding?" Slowly looking down at her chest. A little. Shit. This was a nice dress too. She remained in her seat. Not quite trusting herself to stand. But thank god for that medical bag/purse. Picking it up so she could try and get some gauze out of it. Temporarily patch herself before she felt ready to leave.

Alexander stops as he notices Nicholas slide down the wall. He eyes the door. He eyes Nicholas. Then ducks his head and shuffles in Nicholas' direction. "You need medical attention," he points out, dully.

Geoff makes his way from his seat to go track down the old crew, approaching them it is quite apparent that his good shirt is no longer good, instead it's torn and soaked in what is definitively his blood, and he still appears to be bleeding a bit, likely just a flesh wound. Dropping down into the seats behind Tobin, Byron and Lilith, grunting as he settles down "Were one of you asking about me?"

Nicholas waves a hand at Alexander, "Yeah, that's what the playbill said..." Shaking his head at the man, he forces a smile, "I've got a pack in the truck, I'll be alright." But really, he needs a gurney. Giving a little finger-wave back to Julia, he coughs.

"You're not in the truck," Alexander points out. He seems to brace himself, then reaches out a hand. "Let me help you out of the theater?"

Byron hadn't gone anywhere, though it's always disorienting to 'wake up' in a place filled with people who act as if nothing had just gone on. He doesn't immediately rise from his seat, taking this time to get well acquainted with the fact that the clueless were here as well. Hearing his name, he finally rises to stand, eyes immediately settled on Lilith. "Are you still bleeding?" He remembers seeing all that blood in the other place. He even reaches over to check, patting down at her. With Geoff's arrival, he blinks, "You're here too, huh? Never thought you were the theater sort. If you weren't already, I'm sure you're not going to start being one now."

Raymond levers himself to his feet and lurches his way down towards some of the others who're still here. "Hey," he greets Geoff, Tobin, Byron and Lilith. "Someone get the number of that truck?"

"Come on, let's get out of here." Baylee shakes her head, moving towards Aidan, a hand reaching for his head, looking at the wound there, "And, maybe we should stop somewhere and get a first aid kit." There is a quick look around, but then she's trying to duck under his arm to try and steer him out of the theater.

Nicholas reaches up and grasps Alexander's wrist, struggling to stand, then holding his pounding head as soon as he does, "Ugh." So true.

May kindly offers to Julia, "I could I suppose." A brief pause before offers, "I have a bottle or two at my house?"

Chloe finally struggled to her feet. A good doctor would go to the hospital. But how do you explain this? So instead she sent a text and slowly attempted to make her way out of the theater.

Julia pushes off the seat. "Might do. I'm Julia, by the way." She starts to move...slowly...toward the exit.

"Yeah, Geoff, Lil could use a little help," Tobin says to him when Geoff comes by. "You okay?" He studies their friend to gauge whether Geoff might be in bad shape, too. "Byron's fine," he tells Lilith. "See? He's right here." He nod and says "She's bleeding and she needs some help. I'm not.. really equipped to help her." Though when Raymond approaches he glances up and over to him and says, "Hey, smiling faintly at the question."

Alexander shudders as Nicholas grasps his wrist, but instead of immediately dropping the man and running for the hills, he moves in closer to provide support, and slowly start helping him to that side door and wherever Nicholas directs him. They probably look like a couple of drunks after a barfight, staggering their way along. Assuming the barfight involved Molotov cocktails and arrows.

"Yeah, that chick I told you about who I gave a tat to? That was the one who escaped from the wall right before everything quieted down. I was hoping I'd be able to pay her back for the shit I've been going through." Geoff says with a hint of darkness entering his voice before it just vanishes "That and I thought it'd be a good date to take Erin on. Mainly the latter really." as he says this he begins to roll his sleeves up with a wince, the chest wound clearly bugging him. Setting his hand on Lilith's shoulder he sees to healing her up.

Aidan finds his hat, looks rather pleased at it, puts it on his head, and immediately half-collapses sideways against the chair as his legs decide maybe they'd like a break right now. From the looks of it, that was a surprise. "Ow," he says quietly, holding himself up with the chairback a moment, and winces a bit more when Baylee's hand nears the wound, whether it makes contact or not. There is no attempt made to avoid the ducking a steering; she can pretty much move him wherever she wants. At least as long as his legs agree to cooperate again.

The phone was the next thing Erin will try. Her Grandmothers number, Thomas' number. The number to Addington Manor and the help there. Anything. One by one she tries calling, panicking at not being able to locate her.

The blood is hard to see given the dark scheme blue of Lilith's dress, but it's soaking it at this point all through the middle and down her bare leg with peeking out of the fabric, hand bloodied from where she was pressing. Byron's hands come away bloody too from the checkover and then she relaxes against Tobin's frame after the disorientation goes and she starts to hear Byron and Geoff's voice. She played tough for a while, but at this point, because she did that, she's starting to fade some in her voice with wooziness from bloodloss and the general experience, "It's... okay. See? You're all... okay."

Then she just gusts out a sigh and lapses into quiet as Geoff's hands go onto her and her gut wound beneath the bolt-torn dress staunches and starts to knit together with his bidding and focus and particular way, mascara-darkened lashes closing.

"/That/ was the lady?" Byron asks, blinking at Geoff's revelation. There is one question on his mind though, but he doesn't seem overly bothered, when he asks, "So... are those people, the actors." There's a careful look that he gives the rest of the departing audience, less they hear that he says next, "really dead?" The voice did say they had blood on their hands. At Raymond's approach, there's a look of recognition in Byron's eyes and he slowly nods, "Something tells me that there's no Complaints line for us to call to voice our opinions on their performance this evening." Idly, he's looking down at his blood-stained fingers now. That was a lot of blood. To Geoff, however, there's this quirk of a brow, "I'm glad that someone's helping to bring culture to your life then."

Raymond shrugs. "Doesn't really matter," he says, leaning himself carefully against a nearby seat rather than trying to sit down. "It's all about the guilt. Whatever we did would have been wrong, and if we'd done nothing we'd have died. Still. At least they won't get to play that game again somewhere else." Is that black shirt supposed to be shiny at the bottom when it isn't at the top?

Geoff closes his eyes and leans back in his seat, relaxing for a moment with an exhale "I have no idea what you mean, I'm pretty much /made/ of culture. I bet you've never even seen Kojack the night stalker. Until you've seen that you can't throw shade." opening up his shirt he chest out just how bad the wound on his chest is, it's rather bloody and is healing up as aided by another spiritualist but it still looks like he got lightly mauled by an animal.

"I'm not going to feel guilty for defending myself and those around me when attacked," Tobin says simply. He gives a grateful look to Geoff when he takes care of Lilith and then looks over to Raymond. "They don't play fair. They knew full well they were backing a bunch of scared people into a corner and then opened fire on them. There wasn't a whole lot of time for strategic planning and incapacitation. Though.. that might be a tactic for next time.. so they can't win either." He notices the blood on Raymond's shirt and asks "How injured are you?"

From a darker corner of the room a phone that's not on silent mode chirps out alerting to a text message. After a moment Erin comes over to drop wearily into a seat by Geoff. "I was worried about my Grandmother. Someone said she disappeared during the acts. I guess she wasn't feeling well, but she is home safe. Sorry for zipping off to look for her like that. I just found a quiet place to make a few calls."

"You look nice." Lilith tells Geoff, noticing at the very least he's wearing a collared shirt for a change when her eyes open with flutter while he's working on her with focus. Then when he settles back, she slumps with relief in her place and tries to rub away some of the lines of blood that leaked down her thigh, still seeming a bit out of it as her body starts to take care of itself. She doesn't precisely look to be in pale and disoriented pain anymore, but she's clearly not all there and isn't comfortable.

Nevertheless, her brows are knit as she listens and there is some semblance of ticking thought between her half-lidded eyes, like she's trying to work one thing or another out.

Raymond exhales, or at least starts to exhale and then thinks better of it. "Not gonna lie, on a scale of one to ten it's ow fuck, my ribs," he replies to Tobin before offering Erin a polite nod.

Byron carefully observes Geoff when he works his magic on Lilith, his dark eyes then lift to view her expression when he asks, "Still hurt or are you feeling better?" He trusts Geoff, of course! But that doesn't mean that there's no lingering pain still. Though when his brawn friend informs him of just how cultured he is, all that Byron can do is arch a sharp brow, eyes on Geoff once more, "That doesn't... okay then! Maybe you'll have to enlighten me some day."

Throughout all of this, he's about to ask where Erin was and then there she is. He's not going to guess and say that 'maybe she's fine' regarding Erin's grandmother, but the old woman was an Addington and had lived in this town forever. He does give her an acknowledging nod, seeing that she doesn't look overly hurt, but Tobin's bringing up Raymond's injury has his eyes flickering in that direction. Continuing on with that particular converesation about the murder of this actors in self-defense, all he can say is, "Yeah."

Tobin lingers for a bit, trying to make sure that everyone is at least is connected with someone to help them, even if it's just some first aid, but eventually, he excuses himself, and decides it's time to make his way home, bidding everyone a good night and a "Be safe."

Geoff nods grimly "Yeah we're not going to be seeing those guys who fell there ever again if I had to guess." glancing towards the stage he says "Probably a blood bath back stage, cleaning up their comrades so no one has to explain what happened there." As Erin approaches he offers her a warm smile "It's okay, I would have gone to help you but I figured I should probably tend to the wounded around here." wrinkling his nose he looks down at the torn shirt and the blood he says "I think I need to go take a shower and relax."

As if realizing the others were there, Erin listens to the medical complaints from them and squints a little. "Was it a dream or was it real?" Leaning in, she looks at the wound before looking back up, offering a smile to those gathered around Geoff. "I can help if anyone needs me to." Except, likely there are a few there that may not trust her. "I can help with that, Geoff. Are you hurting too?"

"It feels... better." Lilith seems perfectly grateful and gracious and isn't leaking blood or looking like she's going to pass out, but she seems limp all the same and a bloody mess besides. In fact, that kind of hits her after she answers Byron and reaches for his hand to help pull herself more upright while getting her bearings with a puff of air, "I... shouldn't be sitting in here or walking around looking like this, though." And wherever those heels are that she kicked off at some point to dodge all the other bolts that didn't sink mark, welp, they aren't really anywhere now on quick glance, so she starts to try and rise in her bare feet.

"Who was... the one calling me before the show that... she was... making something around us. I can't place her."

Geoff 's eyes dance with mischief at that "Are you offering to help with the shower there or the wound? Either way I'm not going to turn down the help." now just fully opening the shirt he reveals the wound to Erin. Is it necessary for the healing? No, but it's likely to make it that much more dramatic. Waiting till after Erin helps him out, he begins to stand with a groan

Byron's gaze follows behind Tobin when his friend excuses himself. It's difficult to say whether they all should continue to be on high alert or not and if the danger had truly passed, so the idea that Tobin was wandering off alone does make him wary. "Be careful." Returnig to the converesation, he lets Lilith take his hand, but it's the bloodied one, the one with her blood, that he didn't wipe off his fingertips yet. He does, however, notice the missing shoes, eyes now scanning the aisle, "Julia?" He asks to the question, though when Erin offers to help, his eyes refocus on her more intently, trying to gauge which power set was most prominent within her.

Raymond looks over at Erin. "Sometimes the dreams /are/ real," he says. "Although, pulling a whole load of us in like that... that must've taken some doing."

"Was it? Huh. Velez? Neat." Lilith blinks a couple of times fast on hearing the name from Byron as response and breathes out a tiny 'huh' to herself, testing her balance on her own once standing. She opts not to let go of Byron's hand, though, his bloodied one met with her own bloodied one. Her clean hand goes out for additional support on his forearm with cross hold so that she doesn't have to look like a wuss and lean on him for that moment. When Raymond speaks to Erin with caution, though, her eyes go his way, considering the words for a moment before she slowly releases one of the hands to get her purse where her keys and phone are stashed to work up over a shoulder in slide.

Whether the shirt removal exposing bare chest or a wound there takes Erin's breath a moment, she doesn't hint at, but her brow furrows shortly after and she gently places a hand over his wound before lifting her eyes to search his expression for any nuance of pain there. "You jumped in front of me." There's no accusation in her tone but there is quiet observation there, a sort of acknowledgement for it. Biting her lower lip she concentrates on his chest again even as she listens to those around her. "I think all dreams are real. I have to think that because there have been enough times I thought they weren't and I've come back with wounds from them. To think otherwise is to put yourself in danger." She gives Lilith a smile, "It looks like you've come out with battlescars. Are you feeling better now?"

Reaching for the handkerchief found tucked within the breast pocket of his suit jacket, Byron idly wipes his even bloodier fingertips upon it. "Yeah, it was Velez. Ran into her in California when I was still there. Though she would open up a fancy restaurant in San Francisco some day." There's nothing judgmental in his voice when that is spoken, though a quiet smile plays on his lips, "Looks like she's putting that dream on hold for now."

To this discussion on dreams, all while Erin is using her own magical fingers on Raymond, once his hands are perfectly cleaned, Byron tucks them into his trouser pockets, the crushed handkerchief and all. "They are real enough. And this isn't the first time that they've gathered a large group of us together. No, it happened last week or so as well. On a boat tour of the bay."

"Geoff got a hold of me to make me stop leaking. It's not comfortable right now and I'm a mess, but I'll be okay. Thank you, though." Lilith tells Erin after looking at Byron for a quiet and gauging moment. Then she pulls on a little smile and looks at the floor to push a half-hearted foot around in a last check for her shoes underneath a seat before she just plain gives up on them.

Then she turns her attention onto Geoff to thank him next after her moment of distraction, eyes taking a wander over his own state before speaking with weight, "And thank you." After drawing in a breath, she murmurs and starts to edge through the row of chairs carefully, "Excuse me."

"The dreams are real enough, ask the actors who bit it today. Whether they line up with the world we know is another subject." Geoff says as his wounds are tended to "And never feel sorry about taking the life of someone who'd have taken yours." With a faint smile for Erin he dips his head "Yeah I jumped in front of you, I promised you that you'd make it out didn't I?" with a grunt he rolls his shoulders, seeming entirely stiff "Don't mention it Lily, you know I got your back.'

"Yes, I remember." Erin tells Byron before lifting her eyes to his, "You invited me on the boat tour." There's a ghost of a smile there that doesn't fully blossom into one. It's to Lilith that an encouraging look goes. "I'm glad you were able to be fixed." Finally she removes her hand and eyes those stiff shoulders. "Nothing that a good massage won't cure there. I can call my masseuse of you'd like?" This time she does find a smile and she gets to her feet. "I should really go though. Do you need to catch up more? You're more than welcome to come over to my place again, I just have to run by my grandmothers."

Raymond straightens up from where he'd been leaning. "Right, I'm going to go and find somewhere to be flat. Sleep well, folks, and good luck out there. Here's hoping we don't dream." And with that, he's turning towards the doors.

With Lilith's admittance that she was still in pain, Byron watches her with quiet observation. An idea comes to mind, but he'll refrain from taking action for now. "You might want to sit down." He tells her, watching as she continues to search for her shoes. This is followed by a heavy sigh, "I'll look for them. But right now, with what happened, you shouldn't be moving around so much." He's not sure how well such wounds are repaired, but maybe with healing that lingering shock or discomfort of what happens still remains. When Erin mentions the boat thing now, the edge of Byron's lips lift to a quirk.

Removing that handkerchief from his pocket, he reaches over to hand it off to Lilith before she gets too far, "Here."

That said, he seems to be doing some searching himself, crouchiung down to see if those heels were kicked anywhere in the commotions. He can only hope that they were together somewhere... "I'm hoping that now that we've dealt with this, it'll all be over. That the boat tour thing was all on them. But I've got my doubts on that one."

"... maybe. But I'm -not- sitting in your car like -this- on general principle. So if you want me lying down somewhere and plan to see to it yourself that I'm not driving, you're going to have to drive a Nissan temporarily. It's a loaner anyway." Lilith tells Byron with pause to take the hendkerchief. She fusses with one of her hands before easing down to sit while he does a shoe search. Eventually he finds them for her. Seems dreams don't give a shit about red heeled shoes enough to keep 'em.